Oh My... My Prizes! Using What We Have

Okay, I have stated on this blog that I am f~r~u~g~a~l and I believe in using what you have available to you. What I mean by that is that if you think you have to have "x" lacing cards and you just can't live without them, then go ahead and buy them; however, I believe that God will supply all our "needs" and a whole lot of our "wants". Sometimes we just have to be patient and wait. Now, that is just an example about the lacing cards, but it is a REAL example. In the last couple of days I have gotten a whole lot of "wants"... probably more than I will ever need really, but I will take them and do my best to use them. ;) Actually, I think that is going to be one of my new goals. I want to start using what I have!! That is one of the reasons that I have started making a database list of all the books, puzzles, and other learning items that I have on hand. I read something on a blog several months ago that said if you think you "need" to have new curriculum or learning tools to start making a list of all the things you have on hand. We try to buy used children's books whenever we can, so we have a lot of books on hand to choose from. This also eliminates a lot of the, "I spent $10(?) on that book and the kids (or us) do not even like it that much!" moments. You really don't care so much if you paid less than 50 cents for it.... and for us most of the time it is way less.

My husband came in from work on Wednesday and said that he had gone by Goodwill and that they were having a sale on books. All the books you can stuff in a bag for 99 cents. He had already bought some, but his taste is much different than mine. Since it is close by he kept the kids and I went to check it out. I filled 3 or 4 bags and I was surprised at how much could be stuffed in a bag. I know that I probably had 20 books per bag... easily 80+ books total. And some of them are so good... I would list them, but that is just not going to happen with so many books. I spent about $4 and walked away with several leveled readers, some Mad Libs, Science books (like DK), Teacher's Thematic Unit Studies, Bible Story books, and many wonderful children's books. Some of the books I got are very old, but in great shape. Actually, I just Googled one of them, "The Eye Book" by Theo. LeSeig, and this is what came up for a heading in the Google search:

The Eye Book by Dr. Seuss writing as Theo. LeSeig; illustrated by ...

(mine is older than the one pictured)
I immediately looked in the front of the book for a copyright, etc. and it has 1968 !!! And if you have any interest in Dr. Seusss at all you have got to go to this link and read this!! So, my book is a Dr. Seuss book written under his real name!!! I seriously just realized this while I am writing this post and now I can't don't quite care what I was writing about... I already knew that I had a few possibly collector's items in this loot, but now I am blown away.

Also, in my loot is an old "Hardy Boys" book #1 (1959).... ONE!!! "The Happy Little Handsaw" (1955) and is ultra-cute with deligthful artistry! "Junior Laurel Songs" (1917) is one of the books and it is some sort of song book. It says "Special Edition" on the front and the "Introduction" page says, "....Laurel Songs For Juniors is the fulfillment of a long-cherished purpose to bring a higher standard of music into the Junior classes of the public schools. ..." It is very interesting to me that even in 1917 there was struggle to try to bring "higher standard" into public schools!! There is a two page Introduction addressing that need for a "higher standard"... very interesting. Okay, on to the next book, "Frog Went A-Courtin'" (1955) and it is interesting to me that this book has an excerpt called "The Story of This Story" which elaborates on the origin of the story and that "has always been the kind of story that was told and sung to children, instead of being read to them." The excerpt tells the history behind the story and how the telling of the story rather than reading of it through the years caused it to change over the years. What a truly interesting concept! Not that it is really surprising, but it is just not something I usually think about. There is also a book that has me a bit intrigued... I feel like it is supposed to be in my hands, but I am not sure why. Do you ever have that happen? I have picked it up at least twice before when I have gone in Goodwill and put it back down not knowing what it was. Needless to say, it went into my bag on "fill-a-bag" day! It is "James Robb: Pioneer" and on the back it has a symbol that I have never seen before. The symbol says: "Home Mission Board, Southern Baptist Convention, Our Land For Christ", so I am guessing that this is some sort of book used for missions work within the United States... I do not know and who is this James Robb? I was origianally thinking that it was a fictional story, but now I am thinking he may be an important figure in history. I am going to have to dig deeper and find out.

Okay, now back to the topic I think I was writing about before I suddenly became intrigued with my prizes and the possibility of some of these books being early printings and all the other details... really... back to the topic. I was talking about my educational finds/bargains. Also, at Goodwill I found this little treasure for $1.99 and can't wait to use it for Sierra for school. It is so wonderful I can't even tell you all about it right now. Later I will try to do a post just on this game. Meanwhile, if you enjoy Dr. Seuss stories or your little one does I would highly recommend this game set. When I was "borrowing" this picture I noticed that you can buy it used on Amazon, etc. for a good price. The original retail price on the back of this item is $39.99 .

Moving on to today's finds.... under my influence my husband has become a bit cheap... so now he likes to go to resale shops and yard sales as a family outing. LOL! I did not really want to go today because I had fully intended to make banana muffins and homemade waffles for breakfast. Sometime today I was going to bake a pumpkin pie with homemade crust and roast a chicken for dinner.... You would love to see the loopholes my husband throws in my plans on a daily basis. My plan should seriously be to NOT have a plan. ;) Anyway, we loaded in the car and hit the local (fabulous) donut shop, filled our kids with sugar, and started the yard sale venture. Right away we came to a yard sale with MORE books (children's Bible stories and you just can't pass that up) and a couple of kid foam craft kits. I have found that it is quite easy to find these little craft kits that people buy and never do!! The next yard sale was MORE books and at only 10 cents a book I left there with 60 MORE books (more Bible stories and timeless tales and teaching Unit Studies). Also, a Mosaic Tile Art Kit that was still sealed in the cellophane wrap (50 cents / Retail=$19.99).

Another great find is this 3 letter word game called "What's GNU?" (50 cents/Retails=$15.95) This is perfect for teaching Sierra since she is already starting to understand spelling words like c-a-t, d-o-g, ... They are going to love playing this for "school"! And back to what I was saying about those lacing cards..... Now keep in mind I was not patient, but I was selective this summer when I purchased basic lacing shapes from My Father's World, as well as, purchasing their Lowercase Foam Lacing Letters. I have to admit I have still been wanting to get more lacing cards. Just Imagine my JOY when I came across these eeBoo Under The Sea Lacing Cards!!! Now their cocker spaniel chewed the corner of the box, but otherwise they are in mint condition! (50 cents/Retail=$14.95) A little while later I totally missed this one, but Sierra came running over to me saying, "Momma will you please buy me these flashcards?" Uh-YEAH! No brainer... of course, I will! (free/Retail=$9.95)... my kids get a lot of freebies just for looking so darn cute! Thanks freebie lady! (bad pic, but I am being lazy and using pics of the internet)... Just for some detail, these flashcards have a picture on them and you pull it apart some and see the letter and word for the picture. I don't even think Sierra realizes that they pull apart. She just saw Dora and wanted them. She is going to think these are way cool!
We droved a bit further and hit a couple more yard sales... Ended up with a toy horse, some jewelry for the kids, some size 18 months clothing for Stinky Doodles (Sahara), some princess blankets, and a few costumes, and a free end table (that we don't need... hmmm... wonder what I'll do with that... LOL!) ... oh and a couple of costumes because we are big on costumes and dress-up around here... And that was all we could stand of the yard sale list!! Whew! It was hard work.... so, off to the biggest town around here and we had pizza for lunch and tried to acquire a not-so-easy to find pacifier, then ventured to Dollar Tree for Sierra to spend her tooth money and scored a shield and foam sword for Caden's Renaissance Festival costume!! Yippee!! Cody started complaining of body aches (Eeeekkkk!!) and we came home. I made the banana muffins for tomorrow morning and Waffles for the kiddos for dinner... That chicken is gonna have to wait until tomorrow to roast! ;) .. and that pumpkin pie... Another crazy day with my crazy family!!